Signal distribution and radiation in a wireless enabled integrated circuit (ic) using a leaky waveguide

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for wirelessly communicating among integrated circuits and/or functional modules within the integrated circuits. A semiconductor device fabrication operation uses a predetermined sequence of photographic and/or chemical processing steps to form one or more functional modules onto a semiconductor substrate. The functional modules are coupled to an integrated waveguide that is formed onto the semiconductor substrate and/or attached thereto to form an integrated circuit. The functional modules communicate with each other as well as to other integrated circuits using a multiple access transmission scheme via the integrated waveguide. One or more integrated circuits may be coupled to an integrated circuit carrier to form Multichip Module. The Multichip Module may be coupled to a semiconductor package to form a packaged integrated circuit.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

Generally, the present invention relates to wireless communication amongfunctional modules of an integrated circuit, and specifically, tointegrating a waveguide with the functional modules to wirelesslycommunicate using a multiple access transmission scheme.

2. Related Art

A semiconductor device fabrication operation is commonly used tomanufacture integrated circuits onto a semiconductor substrate to form asemiconductor wafer. Integrated circuits from among varioussemiconductor wafers are often packaged together to form an electronicdevice, such as a mobile device or a personal computing device toprovide some examples. These integrated circuits are ofteninterconnected to each other using conductive wires and/or traces andcommunicate among themselves using these conductive wires and/or traces.

Typically, the conductive wires and/or traces are suitable forcommunication among the integrated circuits when low data rates and/orlow frequencies are used to communicate over relatively short distances.However, as the data rates, the frequencies, and/or the distancesincrease, physical properties of the conductive wires and/or traces maydegrade communication among the integrated circuits. For example, anundesirable or a parasitic capacitance and/or inductance of theconductive wires and/or traces may degrade communication among theintegrated circuits at these increased data rates, frequencies, and/ordistances.

Electronic designers are creating new electronic devices that includemore integrated circuits that communicate at increased data rates and/orfrequencies and over longer distances thereby making the use ofconductive wires and/or traces for communication problematic. Thus,there is a need for interconnecting integrated circuits over longerdistances at increased data rates and/or frequencies that overcomes theshortcomings described above. Further aspects and advantages of thepresent invention will become apparent from the Detailed Descriptionthat follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

Embodiments of the invention are described with reference to theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicateidentical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left mostdigit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which thereference number first appears.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a semiconductor waferaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a first block diagram of an integrated circuit thatis formed onto a semiconductor substrate according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a second block diagram of the integrated circuit thatis formed onto the semiconductor wafer according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a functional module that may beimplemented as part of the integrated circuit according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a first exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a first integrated waveguide that is implemented aspart of the first exemplary configuration and arrangement of theintegrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a first conductive element that may be used in theintegrated waveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a second conductive element that may be used in thefirst integrated waveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a transmit mode of operation of the first integratedwaveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a receive mode of operation of the first integratedwaveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a second exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a second integrated waveguide that is implemented aspart of the second exemplary configuration and arrangement of theintegrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 13A illustrates a first exemplary configuration of a firstelectro-mechanical device that may be used to dynamically configureoperating characteristics of the second integrated waveguide accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13B illustrates a second exemplary configuration of the firstelectro-mechanical device according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 14A illustrates a first exemplary configuration of a secondelectro-mechanical device that may be used to dynamically configureoperating characteristics of the second integrated waveguide accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14B illustrates a second exemplary configurations of the secondelectro-mechanical device according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 15 illustrates a flip chip configuration of functional modules ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates a flip chip configuration of an integrated waveguidethat is implemented as part of the integrated circuit according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 illustrates a third exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 18 illustrates a fourth exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 19 illustrates a fifth exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 20 illustrates a first exemplary configuration and arrangement ofone or more functional modules of the integrated circuit according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 illustrates a sixth exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 22 illustrates a second exemplary configuration and arrangement ofone or more functional modules of the integrated circuit according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 23 illustrates a seventh exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 24 illustrates an exemplary Multichip Module (MCM) according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a wireless integratedcircuit testing environment according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 26 illustrates a schematic block diagram of wireless automatic testequipment that is implemented within the wireless integrated circuittesting environment according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 27 illustrates block diagram of receiving antennas that areimplemented as part of the wireless automatic test equipment to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generallyindicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similarelements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated bythe leftmost digit(s) in the reference number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following Detailed Description refers to accompanying drawings toillustrate exemplary embodiments consistent with the invention.References in the Detailed Description to “one exemplary embodiment,”“an exemplary embodiment,” “an example exemplary embodiment,” etc.,indicate that the exemplary embodiment described may include aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every exemplaryembodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same exemplary embodiment. Further, when a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anexemplary embodiment, it is within the knowledge of those skilled in therelevant art(s) to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic inconnection with other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

The exemplary embodiments described herein are provided for illustrativepurposes, and are not limiting. Other exemplary embodiments arepossible, and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodimentswithin the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the DetailedDescription is not meant to limit the invention. Rather, the scope ofthe invention is defined only in accordance with the following claimsand their equivalents.

The following Detailed Description of the exemplary embodiments will sofully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can, byapplying knowledge of those skilled in relevant art(s), readily modifyand/or adapt for various applications such exemplary embodiments,without undue experimentation, without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. Therefore, such adaptations andmodifications are intended to be within the meaning and plurality ofequivalents of the exemplary embodiments based upon the teaching andguidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseologyor terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the presentspecification is to be interpreted by those skilled in relevant art(s)in light of the teachings herein.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments of the invention mayadditionally be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readablemedium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. Amachine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputing device). For example, a machine-readable medium may includeread only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic diskstorage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical,optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrierwaves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), and others. Further,firmware, software, routines, instructions may be described herein asperforming certain actions. However, it should be appreciated that suchdescriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in factresult from computing devices, processors, controllers, or other devicesexecuting the firmware, software, routines, instructions, etc.

Exemplary Semiconductor Wafer

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a semiconductor waferaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Asemiconductor device fabrication operation is commonly used tomanufacture integrated circuits onto a semiconductor substrate to form asemiconductor wafer. The semiconductor device fabrication operation usesa predetermined sequence of photographic and/or chemical processingsteps to form the integrated circuits onto the semiconductor substrate.

A semiconductor wafer 100 includes integrated circuits 102.1 through102.nthat are formed onto a semiconductor substrate 104. Thesemiconductor substrate 104 is typically a thin slice of semiconductormaterial, such as a silicon crystal, but may include other materials, orcombinations of materials, such as sapphire or any other suitablematerial that will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s)without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Typically, the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n are formed ontothe semiconductor substrate 104 using a first series of fabricationsteps, referred to as front-end-of-line processing, and a second seriesof fabrication steps, referred to as back-end-of-line processing. Thefront-end-of-line processing represents a first series of photographicand/or chemical processing steps to form components of the integratedcircuits 102.1 through 102.n onto the semiconductor substrate 104. Thecomponents of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n may includeany suitable combination of electrical components, mechanicalcomponents, electro-mechanical components, or other suitable componentsthat will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s). Theintegrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n may be similar and/or dissimilarto each other. The back-end-of-line processing represents a secondseries of photographic and/or chemical processing steps to forminterconnections between these components to form the integratedcircuits 102.1 through 102.n onto the semiconductor substrate 104.

First Exemplary Integrated Circuit that is Formed IRST EXEMPLARYINTEGRATED CIRCUIT THAT IS FORMED onto a Semiconductor Substrate

FIG. 2 illustrates a first block diagram of an integrated circuit thatis formed onto a semiconductor substrate according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. The semiconductor devicefabrication operation is commonly used to manufacture an integratedcircuit 200 onto a semiconductor substrate 204. The integrated circuit200 includes any suitable combination of electrical components,mechanical components, electro-mechanical components, or any othersuitable components that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) that are configured and arranged to form one or morefunctional modules 202.1 through 202.i. Each of the functional modules202.1 through 202.i may be communicatively coupled to other functionalmodules 202.1 through 202.i within the integrated circuit 200. Theintegrated circuit 200 may represent an exemplary embodiment of one ormore of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n.

The functional module 202.1 may be communicatively coupled to thefunctional module 202.2 via a dedicated communications channel 206formed onto the semiconductor substrate 204. The dedicatedcommunications channel 206 may include, but is not limited to, amicrowave radio link, a fiber optic link, a hybrid fiber optic link, acopper link, or a concatenation of any combination of these to providesome examples. For example, the dedicated communications channel 206 maybe formed using a copper link to allow for communication between thefunctional module 202.1 and the functional module 202.2. In an exemplaryembodiment, the copper link may be configured and arranged to form adifferential signaling link to allow for differential communicationsbetween the functional module 202.1 and the functional module 202.2. Asanother example, the dedicated communications channel 206 may beimplemented using a waveguide to guide electromagnetic waves forcommunication between the functional module 202.1 and the functionalmodule 202.2.

The functional module 202.1 provides a transmitted communications signal250.1 to the dedicated communications channel 206. The transmittedcommunications signal 250.1 passes through the dedicated communicationschannel 206 where it is observed by the functional module 202.2.Similarly, the functional module 202.1 observes a receivedcommunications signal 250.2 from the dedicated communications channel206. Specifically, the functional module 202.2 provides a transmittedcommunications signal to the dedicated communications channel 206. Thistransmitted communications signal passes through the dedicatedcommunications channel 206 where it is observed by the functional module202.1 as the received communications signal 250.2.

Second Exemplary Integrated Circuit that is Formed onto theSemiconductor Wafer

FIG. 3 illustrates a second block diagram of the integrated circuit thatis formed onto the semiconductor wafer according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. The semiconductor devicefabrication operation is commonly used to manufacture an integratedcircuit 300 onto a semiconductor substrate 304. The integrated circuit300 includes any suitable combination of electrical components,mechanical components, electro-mechanical components, or any othersuitable components that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) that are configured and arranged to form one or morefunctional modules 302.1 through 302.i. Each of the functional modules302.1 through 302.i may be communicatively coupled to other functionalmodules 302.1 through 302.i within the integrated circuit. Theintegrated circuit 300 may represent an exemplary embodiment of one ormore of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n.

The functional module 302.1 may be communicatively coupled to otherfunctional modules 302.2 through 302.i via a common communicationschannel 306 formed onto the semiconductor substrate 304. Typically, thecommon communications channel 306 represents a communications channel,such as a microwave radio link, a fiber optic link, a hybrid fiber opticlink, a copper link, or a concatenation of any combination of these toprovide some examples, which is shared among more than one of thefunctional modules 302.1 through 302.i. For example, the commoncommunications channel 306 may be formed using a common copper link toallow for communication between the functional modules 302.1 through302.i. In an exemplary embodiment, the copper link may be configured andarranged to form a differential signaling link to allow for differentialcommunications between the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i. Asanother example, the common communications channel 306 may beimplemented using a waveguide to guide electromagnetic waves forcommunication between the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i.

Each of the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i may communicate withother functional modules 302.1 through 302.i using the commoncommunications channel 306, referred to as on-chip communication.Collectively, the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i communicateusing a multiple access transmission scheme. The multiple accesstransmission scheme may include any single carrier multiple accesstransmission scheme such as code division multiple access (CDMA),frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access(TDMA), and/or any other suitable single carrier multiple accesstransmission scheme that will be apparent by those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. Alternatively, the multiple access transmissionscheme may include any multiple carrier multiple access transmissionscheme such as discrete multi-tone (DMT) modulation, orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM), coded OFDM (COFDM), and/or anyother suitable multiple carrier multiple access transmission scheme thatwill be apparent by those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In anotheralternate, the multiple access transmission scheme may include anycombination of the single carrier multiple access transmission schemeand the multiple carrier multiple access transmission scheme.

Typically, the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i that arecommunicatively coupled to the common communications channel 306 may becharacterized by unique identifiers. For example, these uniqueidentifiers may represent unique spreading codes that is used in a codedivision multiple access (CDMA) scheme, unique time slot allocations ina time division multiple access (TDMA) scheme, unique addresses that arestored within the functional module, or any other suitable identifiersthat will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In anexemplary embodiment, the unique identifiers are unique among thefunctional modules 302.1 through 302.i to provide unicast transmission.In another exemplary embodiment, the unique identifiers may share somecommonality between identifiers to provide multicast transmission. Inthis exemplary embodiment, the unique identifiers are characterized asbeing unique among multiple functional modules 302.1 through 302.i.

Each of the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i operate uponinformation, such as data and/or one or more commands, in accordancewith unique identifiers of other functional modules 302.1 through 302.iprovide its transmitted communication signal 350.1 through 350.i toselectively communicate with these other functional modules. Forexample, the functional module 302.1 may spread information fortransmission to the functional module 302.2 using a spreading code thatcorresponds to the unique identifier of the functional module 302.2 toprovide the transmitted communications signal 350.1. As another example,the functional module 302.1 may provide selectively place theinformation in a time slot that corresponds to the unique identifier ofthe functional module 302.2 to provide the transmitted communicationssignal 350.1. As a further example, the functional module 302.1 mayappend the unique identifier of the functional module 302.2 to theinformation to provide the transmitted communications signal 350.

The functional modules 302.1 through 302.i operate upon the transmittedcommunication signals 350.1 through 350.i using their uniqueidentifiers. The functional modules 302.1 through 302.i recover and/orprocess the information within those transmitted communication signalswhich have been provided using their unique identifiers and/or disregardor ignore those transmitted communication signals that have beenprovided in accordance with other unique identifiers of other functionalmodules 302.1 through 302.i. For example, the functional modules 302.1through 302.i may de-spread the transmitted communication signals 350.1through 350.i using spreading code that corresponds to their uniqueidentifiers. As another example, the functional modules 302.1 through302.i may selectively observe time slots that correspond to their uniqueidentifiers. As a further example, the functional modules 302.1 through302.i may compare the unique identifier embedded within the transmittedcommunication signals 350.1 through 350.i to their unique identifiers.

Each of the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i associate theirrespective transmitted communication signals 350.1 through 350.i withunique identifiers of other functional modules from among the functionalmodules 302.1 through 302.i to communicate with these other functionalmodules. For example, the functional module 302.1 may operate uponinformation in accordance with the unique identifier of the functionalmodule 302.2 to provide the transmitted communication signal 350.1. Thefunctional module 302.2 operates upon the transmitted communicationsignal 350.1 using its unique identifier. Because the transmittedcommunication signal 350.1 has been provided using the unique identifierof the functional module 302.2, the functional module 302.2 recoversand/or processes the information within the transmitted communicationsignal 350.1. However, other functional modules 302.3 through 302.i alsooperate upon the transmitted communication signal 350.1 using theirunique identifiers. In this situation, since the unique identifiers ofthese other functional modules 302.3 through 302.i are different fromthe unique identifier of the functional module 302.2, the transmittedcommunication signal 350.1 is disregarded or ignored by these otherfunctional modules.

The functional modules 302.1 through 302.i may, optionally, communicatewith other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuitsthat are communicatively coupled to the integrated circuit 300, referredto as off-chip communication. The other circuits may be formed onto thesame semiconductor substrate as the integrated circuit 300 and/or ontoother semiconductor substrates. For example, the functional module 302.1may provide a transmitted communications signal 352.1 to these othercircuits and/or observe a received communications signal 352.2 fromthese other circuits. However, this example is not limiting, each of thefunctional modules 302.1 through 302.i may, optionally, communicate withthe circuits in a substantially similar manner without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. The functional modules302.1 through 302.i may be communicatively coupled to the other circuitsusing the common communications channel 306. In this situation, theseother circuits may be characterized by unique identifiers andcommunicate with the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i using themultiple access transmission scheme as described above. Alternatively,the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i may be communicativelycoupled to the other circuits using a dedicated communication channel asdescribed in FIG. 2.

Exemplay Functional Module that may be Implemented as Part of the FirstExemplary Integrated Circuit and/or the Second Exemplary IntegratedCircuit

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a functional module that may beimplemented as part of the integrated circuit according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. A functional module 400 includesany suitable combination of electrical components, mechanicalcomponents, electro-mechanical components, or any other suitablecomponents that will be apparent to those skilled in the relevantart(s). The functional module 400 includes an electronic circuit 404, atransceiver module 406, and an interface that are formed onto asemiconductor substrate 402. The functional module 400 also includes anantenna 414 that may be formed onto the semiconductor substrate 402 orformed onto another substrate which is communicatively coupled to themodules of the semiconductor substrate 402. The functional module 400may represent an exemplary embodiment of one or more of the functionalmodules 202.1 through 202.i and/or one or more of the functional modules302.1 through 302.i.

The electronic circuit 404 includes any suitable combination ofcomponents that are connected by conductive wires and/or traces formedonto the semiconductor substrate 402. Typically, these components mayinclude electrical components that are configured and arranged to formone or more analog circuits, one or more digital circuits, and/or anycombination of analog and digital circuits, commonly referred to as amixed-signal circuit. However, these components may additionally includemechanical components, electro-mechanical components, or any othersuitable components that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

The combinations of these components of the electronic circuit 404 allowthe electronic circuit 404 to perform various operations. The electroniccircuit 404 may receive an input communication signal 450 from thetransceiver module 406. The input communication signal 450 may includeinformation and/or one or more commands. The electronic circuit 400 mayperform various operations upon the information and/or execute the oneor more commands to provide an output communication signal 452.

The transceiver module 406 operates upon the received communicationssignal 454 in accordance with the multiple access transmission scheme toprovide the input communication signal 450 and operates upon the outputcommunication signal 452 in accordance with multiple access transmissionscheme to provide a transmitted communications signal 456. Morespecifically, the transceiver module 406 includes a receiver module 408and a transmitter module 410. The receiver module 408 downconverts,demodulates, and/or decodes the received communications signal 454 inaccordance with the multiple access transmission scheme using a uniqueidentifier assigned to the functional module 400. The receiver module408 provides the input communication signal 450 when the uniqueidentifier assigned to the functional module 400 is substantiallysimilar to a unique identifier used to provide the transmittedcommunications signal 456. Otherwise, the receiver module 408 disregardsor ignores the transmitted communications signal 456 when the uniqueidentifier assigned to the functional module 400 is different from theunique identifier used to provide the transmitted communications signal456.

The transmitter module 410 encodes, modulates, and/or upconverts the anoutput communication signal 452 in accordance with the multiple accesstransmission scheme using a unique identifier assigned to anotherfunctional module to provide the transmitted communications signal 456.The transmitter module 410 may include a look-up table stored in amemory within the functional module 400 that includes the uniqueidentifiers of the functional modules and/or integrated circuits thatare communicatively coupled to a common communications channel, such asthe common communications channel 306 to provide an example. Thefunctional module 400 may store the look-up table into one or morememory devices such as any suitable non-volatile memory, any suitablevolatile memory, or any combination of non-volatile and volatile memorythat will be apparent by those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thelook-up table may represent a static table that is programmed into theone or more memory devices during manufacture or testing of thefunctional module 400 and/or a dynamic table that may be updated as moreor less functional modules and/or integrated circuits becomecommunicatively coupled to the common communications channel.

The antenna interface 412 receives a bidirectional communications signal412 from the antenna module 414 and/or provides the bidirectionalcommunications signal 412 to the antenna module 414. The antennainterface may operate in a transmission mode of operation and/or areception mode of operation. In the transmission mode of operation, theantenna interface 412 provides the bidirectional communications signal412 to the antenna module 414. The antenna interface 412 receives thebidirectional communications signal 412 from the antenna module 414 inthe reception mode of operation. Typically, the antenna interface 412 isconfigurable to operate in either the transmission mode of operation orthe reception mode of operation; however, the antenna interface 412 mayadditionally simultaneously operate on both modes of operation.

The antenna module 414 provides a transmitted communications signal 460based upon the bidirectional communications signal 412 and/or observes areceived communications signal 462 to provide the bidirectionalcommunications signal 412. The antenna module 414 may be implementedusing a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna, a phased array, a patchantenna, a waveguide and/or any other suitable device which convertselectric currents into electromagnetic waves that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention.

In some situations, the functional module 400 may include more than onetransceiver module 406, more than one antenna interface 412 and/or morethan one antenna module 414. Typically, these situations arise when thefunctional module 400 communicates with other functional modules and/orother circuits using a dedicated communication channel as described inFIG. 2 and/or FIG. 3. In other situations, the functional module 400 mayshare the one antenna interface 412 and/or the one antenna module 414with other functional modules.

First Exemplary Configuration and Arrangement of the Integrated Circuit

FIG. 5 illustrates a first exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. A semiconductor device fabrication operation uses apredetermined sequence of photographic and/or chemical processing stepsto form one or more functional modules onto a semiconductor substrateand an integrated waveguide onto the semiconductor substrate tocommunicatively couple these functional modules to form an integratedcircuit 500 onto the semiconductor substrate. The integrated circuit 500may represent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 200and/or the integrated circuit 300.

The semiconductor device fabrication operation forms the integratedcircuit 500 onto an arrangement of useable fabrication layers from amongthe semiconductor substrate. As shown in FIG. 5, the semiconductorsubstrate includes a first group of useable fabrication layers 502.1through 502.n and a second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1through 504.t. The first group of the useable fabrication layers 502.1through 502.n and the second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1through 504.t are interdigitated with insulation layers 506.1 through506.p, such as silicon dioxide (SiO₂) though any other suitabledielectric material may be used for the insulation layers that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention.

Typically, one or more functional modules 508.1 through 508.d are formedonto the first group of useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.nand an integrated antenna, such as an integrated waveguide 510, areformed onto the second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1 through504.t. However, those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize thatthe integrated antenna may be implemented using a monopole antenna, adipole antenna, a phased array, a patch antenna, a waveguide and/or anyother suitable device which converts electric currents intoelectromagnetic waves that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. The configuration and arrangement of the integratedcircuit 500 as shown in FIG. 5 is for illustrative purposes only. Thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that the functionalmodules 508.1 through 508.d may be configured and arranged within thefirst group of useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.n and/or theintegrated waveguide 510 may be configured and arranged within thesecond group of useable fabrication layers 504.1 through 504.tdifferently without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

The first group of the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.ninclude one or more n-diffusion and/or p-diffusion layers and/or one ormore polysilicon layers that is used to form various components, such aselectrical components, mechanical components, and/or electro-mechanicalcomponents to provide some examples, of the functional modules 508.1through 508.d. The first group of the useable fabrication layers 502.1through 502.n also includes one or more conductive layers to forminterconnections between the various components of the functionalmodules 508.1 through 508.d. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) willrecognize that the each of the functional modules 508.1 through 508.dmay be formed using a similar number or a different number fabricationlayers from among the first group of the useable fabrication layers502.1 through 50 without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

The first group of the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.nmay be separated from the second group of useable fabrication layers504.1 through 504.t by the insulation layer 506.n. Alternatively, thefirst group of the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.n may beseparated from the second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1through 504.t by a third group, not illustrated in FIG. 5, of usablefabrication layers from among the semiconductor substrate interdigitatedwith the insulation layers 506.1 through 506.p.

The second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1 through 504.tincludes one or more conductive layers to form the various components ofthe integrated waveguide 510. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) willrecognize that the each of the functional modules 508.1 through 508.dmay be formed using a similar number or a different number fabricationlayers from among the first group of the useable fabrication layers502.1 through 50 without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. The integrated waveguide 510 includes a firstconductive element 512.1 formed onto a first useable fabrication layerfrom among the second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1 through504.t and a second conductive element 512.2 formed onto a second useablefabrication layer from among the second group of useable fabricationlayers 504.1 through 504.t. The first useable fabrication layer may beseparated from the second useable fabrication layer by the insulationlayer 506.p, one or more usable fabrication layers from among thesemiconductor substrate interdigitated with the insulation layers 506.1through 506.p, not illustrated in FIG. 5, and/or a free space regionthat is free from useable fabrication layers and insulation layers, notillustrated in FIG. 5.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first conductive element 512.1 includesa first parallel plate formed onto the useable fabrication layer 504.tand the second conductive element 512.2 includes a second parallelplated formed onto the useable fabrication layer 504.1 that areconfigured and arranged to form a parallel plate waveguide, commonlyreferred to as a Fabry-Perot Cavity (FPC). In another exemplaryembodiment, the first parallel plate and/or the second parallel platemay include one or more static phase openings to form a leaky waveguide.However, these examples are not limiting, those skilled in the relevantart(s) will recognize that other configurations and arrangements of theintegrated waveguide 510 are possible without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. For example, the first conductiveelement 512.1 and the second conductive element 512.2 may be configuredand arranged to form any other suitable multi-conductor waveguide. Asanother example, the first conductive element 512.1 may be coupled tothe second conductive element 512.2 to form a single conductorwaveguide, such as a rectangular waveguide, a circular waveguide, or anelliptical waveguide to provide some examples.

Additionally, the configuration and arrangement of the integratedwaveguide 510 as shown in FIG. 5 is for illustrative purposes only.Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that the integratedwaveguide 510 may traverse any suitable path through the useablefabrication layers 504.1 through 5041) to communicatively couple thefunctional modules 508.1 through 508.d without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. For example, the integratedwaveguide 510 may traverse along any suitable linear and/or non-linearpath to communicatively couple the functional modules 508.1 through508.d. As another example, some the integrated waveguide 510 may beformed onto the first group of the useable fabrication layers 502.1through 502.n to communicatively couple the functional modules 508.1through 508.d.

FIG. 6 illustrates a first integrated waveguide that is implemented aspart of the first exemplary configuration and arrangement of theintegrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. An integrated waveguide 600 communicatively couplesfunctional modules, such as the functional modules 508.1 through 508.dto provide an example, of an integrated circuit to each other as well asto other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits thatare communicatively coupled to the integrated circuit. The integratedwaveguide 600 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the integratedwaveguide 510.

The integrated waveguide 600 includes a first conductive element 602 anda second conductive element 604 that are configured and arranged to forma parallel plate waveguide. The first conductive element 602 and/or thesecond conductive element 604 may be implemented using a conductivematerial, such as copper or copper-based materials to provide someexamples, or any other suitable material that may reflect a cavity wavethat propagates through the integrated waveguide 600 that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention.

The first conductive element 602 and the second conductive element 604may be characterized by a first length L₁ that is greater than, lessthan, or equal to a second length L₂. Similarly, the first conductiveelement 602 and the second conductive element 604 may be characterizedby a first width W₁ that is greater than, less than, or equal to asecond width W₂. In an exemplary embodiment, the first length L₁, thesecond length L₂, the first width W₁ and the second width W₂ areapproximately proportional to a wavelength (λ) of a cavity wave thatpropagates through the integrated waveguide 600; however, those skilledin the relevant art(s) will recognize that other lengths and/or widthsare possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

The first conductive element 602 and the second conductive element 604may be additionally characterized as being separated by a cavity region612. The cavity region 612 may be characterized by a first height H₁that is greater than, less than, or equal to a second height H₂. In anexemplary embodiment, the first height H₁ and the second height H₂ areapproximately proportional to the wavelength (λ) of the cavity wave thatpropagates through the integrated waveguide 600; however, those skilledin the relevant art(s) will recognize that other heights are possiblewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The cavity region 612 may represent a hollow region between the firstconductive element 602 and the second conductive element 604. The hollowregion represents a region approximating free space between the firstconductive element 602 and the second conductive element 604.Alternatively, the cavity region 612 may represent a dielectric regionbetween the first conductive element 602 and the second conductiveelement 604 having one or more dielectric materials that arecharacterized by one or more dielectric constants. For example, thedielectric region may include a first dielectric material having a firstdielectric constant. As another example, a first portion of thedielectric region may include a first portion having the firstdielectric material and a second portion of the dielectric region mayinclude a second dielectric material having a second dielectricconstant.

The first conductive element 602 and/or the second conductive element604 may include static phase openings 606.1 through 606.s. The staticphase openings 606.1 through 606.s represent regions within the firstconductive element 602 and/or the second conductive element 604 that arefree of conductive material. The static phase openings 606.1 through606.s may be characterized as including one or more linear segments thatare configured and arranged to form rectangular shapes. However, thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that other closedgeometric shapes that are formed using linear and/or non-linear segmentsare possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. These other closed geometric shapes may include regular orirregular polygons that are constructed of linear segments, closedcurves that are constructed of non-linear segments, or any othergeometric shape that may be constructed using any suitable combinationof linear and non-linear segments that will be apparent to those skilledin the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. Additionally, those skilled in the relevantart(s) will recognize that each static phase opening from among thestatic phase openings 606.1 through 606.s may be similar to and/ordissimilar from other static phase openings from among the static phaseopenings 606.1 through 606.s without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention.

The static phase openings 606.1 through 606.s are configured andarranged in a series of rows 608 and a series of columns 610 to form arectangular shape. However, those skilled in the relevant art(s) willrecognize the series of rows 608 and the series of columns 610 may beconfigured and arranged to form other geometric shapes without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention. These othergeometric shapes may include regular or irregular polygons, and/orclosed curves to provide some examples. Typically, locations of thestatic phase openings 606.1 through 606.s are dependent upon awavelength (λ) of the cavity wave that propagates through the integratedwaveguide 600. For example, a larger wavelength (λ) results in a greaterdistance between the static phase openings 606.1 through 606.s withineach row from among the series of rows 608 and each column from amongthe series of columns 610. As another example, each of the static phaseopenings 606.1 through 606.s are located at various positions within thefirst conductive element 602 where a current of the cavity wave thatpropagates through the integrated waveguide 600 may be characterized asbeing at maximum and/or a voltage of the cavity wave that propagatesthrough the integrated waveguide 600 may be characterized as being at aminimum.

FIG. 7 illustrates a first conductive element that may be used in theintegrated waveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. An integrated waveguide, such as the integrated waveguide 600to provide an example, includes at least one conductive element 700 thatmay be implemented using a conductive material, such as copper orcopper-based materials to provide some examples, or any other suitablematerial that may reflect a cavity wave that propagates through theintegrated waveguide that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. The conductive element 700 includes static phaseopenings 702.1 through 702.4 that represent regions within theconductive element 700 that are free of conductive material.

The static phase openings 702.1 through 702.4 may include one or morelinear segments that are configured and arranged to form a rectangularshape that is characterized by a length l and a width w. In an exemplaryembodiment, the length l and the width w are approximately proportionalto a wavelength (λ) of the cavity wave that propagates through theintegrated waveguide. These rectangular shapes are configured andarranged in a series of rows and a series of columns to form a gridpattern. As shown in FIG. 7, the static phase openings 702.1 and 702.2represent a first row from among the series of rows and the static phaseopenings 702.3 and 702.4 represent a second row from among the series ofrows. The first row and the second row are separated by a distance a.Similarly, the static phase openings 702.1 and 702.3 represent a firstcolumn from among the series of columns and the static phase openings702.2 and 702.4 represent a second column from among the series ofcolumns. The first column and the second column are separate by adistance b. In an exemplary embodiment, the distance a and the distanceb are approximately proportional to the wavelength (λ) of the cavitywave that propagates through the integrated waveguide; however, thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that other distances arepossible without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a second conductive element that may be used in thefirst integrated waveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. An integrated waveguide, such as the integratedwaveguide 600 to provide an example, includes at least one conductiveelement 800 that may be implemented using a conductive material, such ascopper or copper-based materials to provide some examples, or any othersuitable material that may reflect a cavity wave that propagates throughthe integrated waveguide that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. The conductive element 800 includes radiatingelements 802.1 through 802.d that are formed within the conductiveelement 800 to provide the cavity wave to the integrated waveguideand/or receive the cavity wave from the integrated waveguide.

The radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d are formed within theconductive element 800. The radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d areseparated from each other by a distance d. In an exemplary embodiment,the distance d is approximately proportional to a wavelength (λ) of thecavity wave that propagates through the integrated waveguide. Theradiating elements 802.1 through 802.d may be formed by placing threedimensional geometric shapes of the conductive material, which may besimilar or dissimilar to the conductive material of the conductiveelement 800, within non-conductive regions 806.1 through 806.d. Thenon-conductive regions 806.1 through 806.d represent regions within theconductive element 800 that are free from the conductive material toprevent the radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d from being insubstantial contact with the conductive element 800. For example, theradiating elements 802.1 through 802.d may be formed by placingcylindrical shapes of the conductive material within the non-conductiveregions 806.1 through 806.d. However, this example is not limiting,those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that the other threedimensional geometric shapes may be used to form the radiating elements802.1 through 802.d without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. These other three dimensional geometric shapes mayinclude a polyhedra, a cone, a pyramid, a prism, or any other suitablethree dimensional geometric shapes that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s). Those skilled in the relevant art(s)will also recognize that the radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d maybe similar and/or dissimilar to each other without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

The radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d are communicatively coupledto functional modules 804.1 through 804.d. Generally, the radiatingelements 802.1 through 802.d are configured and arranged to match inputand/or output impedances of the functional modules 804.1 through 804.d.For example, heights h of the radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d maybe selected such that impedances of the radiating elements 802.1 through802.d substantially match input and/or output impedances of thefunctional modules 804.1 through 804.d. The radiating elements 802.1through 802.d may be characterized as extending above the conductiveelement 800 such that the impedances of the radiating elements 802.1through 802.d substantially match the input and/or the output impedancesof the functional modules 804.1 through 804.d. Alternatively, theradiating elements 802.1 through 802.d may be substantially planar withthe conductive element 800 and/or the conductive element 800 may extendabove the radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d.

FIG. 9 illustrates a transmit mode of operation of the first integratedwaveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.One or more functional modules, such as one or more of the functionalmodules 202.1 through 202.i, one or more of the functional modules 302.1through 302.i, and/or one or more of the functional modules 508.1through 508.d to provide some examples, provide transmitted cavity wavesto an integrated waveguide 900. The integrated waveguide 900 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated waveguide 600.

The one or more functional modules each include a correspondingradiating element from among radiating elements 908.1 through 908.d forproviding the transmitted cavity waves to the integrated waveguide 900.As shown in FIG. 9, a function module 908.1 provides a transmittedcavity wave 950 to the integrated waveguide 900. The transmitted cavitywave 950 may be observed by other radiating elements from among theradiating elements 908.1 through 908.d to allow for communicationbetween the one or more functional modules. The transmitted cavity wave950 may be encoded, modulated, and/or upconverted in accordance with themultiple access transmission scheme to allow for simultaneous and/ornear simultaneous communication between functional modules.

The integrated waveguide 900 is configured and arranged to guide thetransmitted cavity wave 950 between a first conductive element 902 and asecond conductive element 904. Some of the transmitted cavity wave 950leaks through confines of the first conductive element 902 and thesecond conductive element 904 via static phase openings 906.1 through906.z as the transmitted cavity wave 950 propagates through theintegrated waveguide 900. As a result, an amplitude of the transmittedcavity wave 950 decreases as it propagates through the integratedwaveguide 900. For example, the amplitude of the transmitted cavity wave950 at a distance x within the integrated waveguide 900 may beapproximated as:

y(x)=e ^(−αx),   (1)

where y(x) represents the amplitude of the transmitted cavity wave 950at a distance x from the radiating element 908 toward a first end 910 ora second end 912 of the integrated waveguide 900 and a represents aleakage constant. In an exemplary embodiment, the leakage constant a isof sufficient value such that the amplitude of the transmitted cavitywave 950 is negligible at the first end 910 or the second end 912.

Each portion of the transmitted cavity wave 950 that leaks through eachof the static phase openings 906.1 through 906.z may be characterized asbeing substantially in phase with other portions of the transmittedcavity wave 950 that leak through other static phase openings 906.1through 906.z. As a result, these portions of the transmitted cavitywave 950 that leak through the static phase openings 906.1 through 906.zmay constructively combine to form a transmitted communication signal952 to communicatively couple the functional module to other electrical,mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits.

Each of the other function modules from among the one or more functionalmodules that are coupled to the radiating elements 908.1 through 908.dmay provide other transmitted cavity waves that are substantiallysimilar to the transmitted cavity wave 950. These other transmittedcavity waves may be encoded, modulated, and/or upconverted in accordancewith the multiple access transmission scheme to allow for simultaneousand/or near simultaneous communication between functional modules and/orother electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits thatare communicatively coupled to the integrated waveguide 900.

FIG. 10 illustrates a receive mode of operation of the first integratedwaveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits mayprovide received communication signals to an integrated waveguide 1000.The integrated waveguide 1000 may represent an exemplary embodiment ofthe integrated waveguide 600. The integrated waveguide 1000 shares manysubstantially similar features with the integrated waveguide 900;therefore, only differences between the integrated waveguide 900 and theintegrated waveguide 1000 are to be discussed in further detail below.

These other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuitsmay provide received communications signals to communicate with one ormore of one or more functional modules. As shown in FIG. 10, anelectrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuit provides areceived communication signal 1050 to the integrated waveguide 900. Thereceived communication signal 1050 leaks through the static phaseopenings 906.1 through 906.z to provide a received cavity wave 1052. Thereceived cavity wave 1052 propagates through the integrated waveguide1000 whereby it is observed by the radiating elements 908.1 through908.d.

Each of the other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanicalcircuits that are communicatively coupled to the integrated waveguide1000 may provide other received communication signals that aresubstantially similar to the received communication signal 1050. Theseother received communication signals and the received communicationsignal 1050 may be encoded, modulated, and/or upconverted in accordancewith the multiple access transmission scheme to allow for simultaneousand/or near simultaneous communication between the one or morefunctional modules and the electrical, mechanical, and/orelectro-mechanical circuits that are communicatively coupled to theintegrated waveguide 1000

Second Exemplary Configuration and Arrangement of the Integrated Circuit

FIG. 11 illustrates a second exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. A semiconductor device fabrication operation uses apredetermined sequence of photographic and/or chemical processing stepsto form one or more functional modules onto a semiconductor substrateand an integrated waveguide onto the semiconductor substrate tocommunicatively couple these functional modules to form an integratedcircuit 1100 onto the semiconductor substrate. The integrated circuit1100 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 200and/or the integrated circuit 300. The integrated circuit 1100 sharesmany substantially similar features with the integrated circuit 500;therefore, only differences between the integrated circuit 500 and theintegrated circuit 1100 are to be discussed in further detail below.

The semiconductor device fabrication operation forms the integratedcircuit 1100 onto the arrangement of useable fabrication layers fromamong the semiconductor substrate. As shown in FIG. 11, thesemiconductor substrate includes the first group of useable fabricationlayers 502.1 through 502.n and the second group of useable fabricationlayers 504.1 through 504.t.

The first group of the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.n isused to form various components, such as electrical components,mechanical components, and/or electro-mechanical components to providesome examples, of the functional modules 508.1 through 508.d. At leastone of the functional modules from among the functional modules 508.1through 508.d, such as the functional module 508.1 to provide anexample, is configured and arranged to form a waveguide controllermodule to configure and/or operate the integrated waveguide 1106. Forexample, the integrated waveguide 1106 may include one or more dynamicphase openings that, in response to commands from the waveguidecontroller module, may be opened and/or closed to dynamically configureits operating characteristics. The waveguide controller module may becoupled to the integrated waveguide 1106 using conductive traces thatare formed within the second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1through 504.t or any other suitable means that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention.

The second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1 through 504.t isused form the various components of the integrated waveguide 1106. Theintegrated waveguide 1110 includes a first conductive element 1110.1formed onto a first useable fabrication layer from among the secondgroup of useable fabrication layers 504.1 through 504.t and the secondconductive element 512.2 formed onto the second useable fabricationlayer from among the second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1through 504.t. The first useable fabrication layer may be separated fromthe second useable fabrication layer by the insulation layer 506.p, oneor more usable fabrication layers from among the semiconductor substrateinterdigitated with the insulation layers 506.1 through 506.p, notillustrated in FIG. 11, and/or a free space region that is free fromuseable fabrication layers and insulation layers, not illustrated inFIG. 11.

FIG. 12 illustrates a second integrated waveguide that is implemented aspart of the second exemplary configuration and arrangement of theintegrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. An integrated waveguide 1200 communicatively couplesfunctional modules, such as the functional modules 508.1 through 508.dto provide an example, of an integrated circuit to each other as well asto other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits thatare communicatively coupled to the integrated circuit. The integratedwaveguide 1200 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the integratedwaveguide 1006. The integrated waveguide 1200 shares many substantiallysimilar features with the integrated waveguide 600; therefore, onlydifferences between the integrated waveguide 600 and the integratedwaveguide 1200 are to be discussed in further detail below.

The integrated waveguide 1200 includes a first conductive element 1202and the second conductive element 604 that are configured and arrangedto form the parallel plate waveguide. The first conductive element 1202is shares substantially similar to the first conductive element 602;however, the integrated waveguide 1200 includes dynamic phase openings1204.1 through 1204.t. Unlike the static phase openings 606.1 through606.s which are always open, the dynamic phase openings 1204.1 through1204.t may be configurable to be either opened or closed to dynamicallyconfigure operating characteristics of the integrated waveguide 1200.Those dynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t that arecharacterized as being opened allow a cavity wave that is propagatingthrough the integrated waveguide 1200 to substantially leak; whereas,those dynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 12041 that are characterizedas being closed substantially prevent the cavity wave from substantiallyleaking

As discussed above, each of the static phase openings 606.1 through606.s are located at various positions along the integrated waveguide600 where a current of the cavity wave that propagates through theintegrated waveguide 600 is at maximum and/or a voltage of the cavitywave is at a minimum. However, the maximum of the current and/or theminimum of the voltage are dependent upon a wavelength (λ) of the cavitywave and their locations within the integrated waveguide 1200 may bedifferent for different cavity waves having different wavelengths. Thedynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t may be opened and/or closedto accommodate for these different locations of the maximum of thecurrent and/or the minimum of the voltage for different cavity waves.

For example, a first column 1208 of the dynamic phase openings 1204.1through 1204.t may be configured to be opened and a second column 1210of the dynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t may be configured tobe closed to allow a cavity wave that is characterized by a firstwavelength to optimally leak through the first column 1208. As anotherexample, the first column 1208 may be configured to be closed and thesecond column 1210 may be configured to be opened to allow a secondcavity wave that is characterized by a second wavelength to optimallyleak through the second column 1210. However, these examples are notlimiting those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that thedynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t may be independently openedand/or closed without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

Additionally, the dynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t may beopened and/or closed to dynamically achieve different radiationcharacteristics, such as direction to provide an example, for the cavitywave that is propagating through the integrated waveguide 1200.

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B illustrate first and second exemplaryconfigurations of a first electro-mechanical device that may be used todynamically configure operating characteristics of the second integratedwaveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.An integrated waveguide, such as the integrated waveguide 1100 toprovide an example, includes at least one conductive element 1302 thatmay be implemented using a conductive material, such as copper orcopper-based materials to provide some examples, or any other suitablematerial that may reflect a cavity wave that propagates through theintegrated waveguide that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. The conductive element 1302 includes at least one adynamic phase opening 1312 that represent regions within the conductiveelement 1302 that are free of conductive material. The dynamic phaseopening 1312 may represent an exemplary embodiment of one or more of thedynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t.

A micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) actuator, such as apiezoelectric actuator 1304 or any other suitable linear actuator,converts an electrical signal that is received from a waveguidecontroller module that is communicatively coupled to the integratedwaveguide to a mechanical actuation. The mechanical actuation maydisplace a conductive patch from a first location 1314 to a secondlocation 1316 over the dynamic phase opening 1312 to close the dynamicphase opening 1312. Alternatively, the mechanical actuation may displacethe conductive patch from the second location 1316 to the first location1314 to open the dynamic phase opening 1312. In another alternate, themechanical actuation may displace the conductive patch from either thefirst location 1314 or the second location 1316 to a third locationbetween the first location 1314 and the second location 1316 topartially open or partially close the dynamic phase opening 1312.

The piezoelectric actuator 1304 is configurable to open and/or to closethe dynamic phase opening 1312 to dynamically configure the operatingcharacteristics of the integrated waveguide. The piezoelectric actuator1304 includes an actuator control module 1306, a piezoelectric element1308, and a conductive patch 1310. The actuator control module 1304receives a command from the waveguide controller module to open and/orto close the dynamic phase opening 1312. The actuator control module1304 may receive a command from the waveguide controller module whichindicates that the dynamic phase opening 1312 is to be opened, to beclosed, or to be partially opened or partially closed. The command mayrepresent a simple electrical signal, such as a voltage, indicatingwhether the dynamic phase opening 1312 is to be opened and/or to beclosed. Alternatively, the command may represent an encoded electricalsignal indicating a distance from the first location 1314 and/or thesecond location 1316 that the conductive patch 1310 is to be displaced.The actuator control module 1304 provides a displacement voltage to thepiezoelectric element 1308 to displace the conductive patch 1310 inaccordance with the command.

The piezoelectric element 1308 expands and/or contracts in response tothe displacement voltage to provide the mechanical actuation to displacethe conductive patch 1310. For example, the piezoelectric element 1308converts the displacement voltage to the mechanical actuation todisplace the conductive patch 1310 from the second location 1316 to thefirst location 1314 as shown in FIG. 13A. As another example, thepiezoelectric element 1308 converts the displacement voltage to themechanical actuation to displace the conductive patch 1310 from thefirst location 1314 to the second location 1316 as shown in FIG. 13B. Asa further example, the piezoelectric element 1308 converts thedisplacement voltage to the mechanical actuation to displace theconductive patch 1310 from the first location 1314 or the secondlocation 1316 to any other suitable location between the first location1314 and the second location 1316 that will be apparent to those skilledin the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. The piezoelectric element 1308 may be implementedusing aluminum nitride, apatite, barium titanate, bismuth ferrite,gallium phosphate, lanthanum gallium silicate, lead scandium tantalite,lead zirconate titanate, lithium tantalite, polyvinylidene fluoride,potassium sodium tartrate, quartz, or any suitable material that expandsand/or contracts in response to a voltage that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention.

The conductive patch 1310 is coupled to the piezoelectric element 1308such its expansion and/or contraction of the piezoelectric element 1308displaces the conductive patch 1310. Typically, the conductive patch1310 is implemented using a conductive material which may besubstantially similar or dissimilar to the conductive material used toimplement the conductive element 1302. This allows the conductive patch1310 to be in substantial contact with the conductive element 1302 whenthe conductive patch 1310 is at and/or near the second location 1316.

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B illustrate first and second exemplaryconfigurations of a second electro-mechanical device that may be used todynamically configure operating characteristics of the second integratedwaveguide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.An integrated waveguide includes at least one conductive element 1402that includes a dynamic phase opening 1404. The dynamic phase opening1404 may represent an exemplary embodiment of one or more of the dynamicphase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t.

As shown in FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B, a micro-electro-mechanical system(MEMS) switch, such as a cantilever switch 1406 or any other suitableMEMS switch, converts an electrical signal that is received from awaveguide controller module to a mechanical actuation. The mechanicalactuation may displace an actuator from a first location 1414 to asecond location 1416 over the dynamic phase opening 1404 to close thedynamic phase opening 1404. Alternatively, the mechanical actuation maydisplace the actuator from the second location 1416 to the firstlocation 1414 to open the dynamic phase opening 1404. In anotheralternate, the mechanical actuation may displace the actuator fromeither the first location 1414 or the second location 1416 to a thirdlocation between the first location 1414 and the second location 1416 topartially open or partially close the dynamic phase opening 1404.

The cantilever switch 1406 is configurable to open and/or to close thedynamic phase opening 1404 to dynamically configure the operatingcharacteristics of the integrated waveguide. The cantilever switch 1406includes an electrode 1408 and a cantilever 1410. The waveguidecontroller module provides a command, typically, in the form of a biasvoltage, to the electrode 1408. The command indicates that the dynamicphase opening 1404 is to be opened, to be closed, or to be partiallyopened or partially closed.

The bias voltage produces an electrostatic force between the electrode1408 and the cantilever 1410. When a voltage of the bias voltage reachesa sufficient threshold value, the electrostatic force is sufficient tocause the mechanical actuation. The mechanical actuation displaces thecantilever 1410 from the first location 1414 to the second location 1416to close the dynamic phase opening 1404. Alternatively, when a voltageof the command is reduced below the sufficient threshold value, theelectrostatic force is no longer sufficient to cause the mechanicalactuation. As a result, the cantilever 1410 is displaced from the secondlocation 1416 to the first location 1414 to open the dynamic phaseopening 1404.

Third Exemplary COnfiguration and Arrangement of the Integrated ircuit

FIG. 15 illustrates a flip chip configuration of functional modules ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. A semiconductor device fabrication operation uses apredetermined sequence of photographic and/or chemical processing stepsto form one or more functional modules onto a semiconductor substrate toform a flip chip package 1500. The flip chip package 1500 may representan exemplary configuration and arrangement of the one or more functionalmodules 202.1 through 202.i, the one or more functional modules 302.1through 302.i, and/or the functional module 400.

Typically, the one or more functional modules 508.1 through 508.d areformed onto useable fabrication layers 1502.1 through 1502.ninterdigitated insulation layers 1504.1 through 1504.n. The useablefabrication layers 1502.1 through 1502.n and the insulation layers1504.1 through 1504.n are substantially similar to the first group ofuseable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.n and the insulation layers506.1 through 506.p, respectively, and will not be described in furtherdetail.

The semiconductor device fabrication operation form an integratedcircuit interface 1508 onto a useable fabrication layer 1506 tocommunicatively couple the one or more functional modules 508.1 through508.d to other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanicalcircuits. The integrated circuit interface 1504 includes chip pads1508.1 through 1508.k that are formed onto the useable fabrication layer1506. The configuration and arrangement of the chip pads 1508.1 through1508.k as shown in FIG. 15 are for illustrative purposes only. Thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that the chip pads 1508.1through 1508.k may be configured and arranged differently withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thoseskilled in relevant art(s) will also recognize that the integratedcircuit interface 1504 may include more or less chip pads thanillustrated in FIG. 15 without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

The chip pads 1508.1 through 1508.k are coupled to one or more of thefunctional modules 508.1 through 508.d to form interconnections betweenthese functional modules and other electrical, mechanical, and/orelectro-mechanical circuits. For example, these interconnections may beused to route information, such as data and/or one or more commands,power, ground, or any other suitable electrical signal that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. As another example, oneor more of the chip pads 1508.1 through 1508.k may be used to forminterconnections between the functional modules 508.1 through 508.d anda communication channel, such as the integrated waveguide 600 and/or theintegrated waveguide 1200 to provide some examples.

The chip pads 1508.1 through 1508.k are metalized with a conductivematerial, such as copper or copper-based materials to provide someexamples, or any other suitable material that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s), for coupling of these chip pads tosolder bumps 1510.1 through 1510.k. The solder bumps 1510.1 through1510.k allow the chip pads 1508.1 through 1508.k to forminterconnections between the flip chip package 1500 and otherelectrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits when melted.

FIG. 16 illustrates a flip chip configuration of an integrated waveguidethat is implemented as part of the integrated circuit according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. A semiconductor devicefabrication operation uses a predetermined sequence of photographicand/or chemical processing steps to form an integrated waveguide 1602onto a semiconductor substrate to form a flip chip package 1600. Theflip chip package 1600 may represent an exemplary embodiment of thededicated communications channel 206 and/or the common communicationschannel 306.

Typically, the integrated waveguide 1602 is formed onto useablefabrication layers 1604.1 through 1604.n interdigitated insulationlayers 1606.1 through 1606.n. The fabrication layers 1604.1 through1604.n and the insulation layers 1606.1 through 1606.n are substantiallysimilar to the second group of useable fabrication layers 504.1 through504.t and the insulation layers 506.1 through 506.p, respectively, andwill not be described in further detail.

The semiconductor device fabrication operation form an integratedcircuit interface 1608 onto a useable fabrication layer 1610 tocommunicatively couple the integrated waveguide 1602 to otherelectrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits. Theintegrated circuit interface 1608 is substantially similar to theintegrated circuit interface 1504 and will not be described in furtherdetail.

FIG. 17 illustrates a third exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. One or more functional modules of the integratedcircuit are configured and arranged onto a first flip chip package andan integrated antenna is configured and arranged onto a second flip chippackage. The first flip chip package and the second flip chip packageare coupled to a substrate to form an integrated circuit 1700. Thesubstrate provides power signals and/or information, such as data and/orone or more commands, between the first flip chip package and the secondflip chip package. The integrated circuit 1700 may represent anexemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 200 and/or the integratedcircuit 300.

The integrated circuit 1700 includes a substrate 1702, a first flip chippackage 1704, and a second flip chip package 1706. The substrate 1702forms interconnections between the first flip chip package 1704 and thesecond flip chip package 1706 to communicatively couple these flip chippackages. For example, the substrate 1702 provides power signals to thefirst flip chip package 1704 and/or the second flip chip package 1706.As another example, the substrate 1702 routes information, such as dataand/or one or more commands, between the first flip chip package 1704and the second flip chip package 1706.

The substrate 1702 represents a semiconductor substrate that includesuseable fabrication layers 1708.1 through 1708.s interdigitated withinsulation layers 1710.1 through 1710.(s−1). Alternatively, the useablefabrication layers 1708.1 through 1708.s and the insulation layers1710.1 through 1710.q may represent layers of a printed circuit board(PCB) also referred to as a printed circuit substrate. Typically,electrical components, mechanical components, electro-mechanicalcomponents, or any other suitable components that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) may be formed onto one or more ofthe useable fabrication layers 1708.1 through 1708.s. For example, theuseable fabrication layers 1708.1 through 1708.s may include a powersource, such as an internal battery to provide an example, to providethe power signals to the first flip chip package 1704 and/or the secondflip chip package 1706. As another example, the useable fabricationlayers 1708.1 through 1708.s may include one or more voltage regulatorsto regulate this power source or any other suitable power source toprovide the power signals to the first flip chip package 1704 and/or thesecond flip chip package 1706. As a further example, the useablefabrication layers 1708.1 through 1708.s may include a controllermodule, such as the waveguide controller module, for controlling overalloperation of the first flip chip package 1704 and/or the second flipchip package 1706.

The substrate 1702 includes interconnections 1712.1 through 1712.k andinterconnection 1714 to form a first group of interconnections betweenthe first flip chip package 1704 and the substrate 1702 and the secondgroup of interconnections between the second flip chip package 1706 andthe substrate 1702, respectively. However, those skilled in the relevantart(s) will recognize that the first group of interconnections and/orthe second group of interconnections may include any suitable number ofinterconnections without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. Typically, the first group of interconnectionsincludes a first group of chip pads that are formed onto the first flipchip package 1704 that are coupled to a second group of chip pads thatare formed onto the substrate 1702 with melted solder bumps. Similarly,the second group of interconnections includes a first group of chip padsthat are formed onto the second flip chip package 1706 that are coupledto a second group of chip pads that are formed onto the substrate 1702with melted solder bumps.

The substrate 1702 additionally includes interconnections 1716.1 through1716.b to form interconnections between other electrical, mechanical,and/or electro-mechanical circuits. The interconnections 1716.1 through1716.b include chip pads that may be coupled to corresponding chip padsthat are formed on these other circuits by melting their correspondingsolder bumps. In an exemplary embodiment, the interconnections 1716.1through 1716.b route information, such as data and one or more commands,and/or power signals between the integrated circuit 1700 and the theseother circuits.

The substrate 1702 further includes a transmission line 1718 formedwithin the substrate 1702 to form an interconnection between the firstflip chip package 1704 and the second flip chip package 1706. Thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that the substrate 1702may include more than one transmission line 1718 to form otherinterconnection between the first flip chip package 1704 and the secondflip chip package 1706 without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. Specifically, the transmission line 1718 formsthe interconnection between a first interconnection, namely one of theinterconnections 1712.1 through 1712.k, from among the first group ofinterconnections and a second interconnection, namely theinterconnection 1714, from among the second group of interconnections.The configuration and arrangement of the transmission line 1718 as shownin FIG. 17 is for illustrative purposes only. Those skilled in therelevant art(s) will recognize that the transmission line 1718 maytraverse any suitable path through the substrate 1702 without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, thetransmission line 1718 may traverse along any suitable linear and/ornon-linear path to communicatively couple the first flip chip package1704 and the second flip chip package 1706.

The first flip chip package 1704 includes one or more functional modulesthat are communicatively coupled to the substrate 1702 and/or the secondflip chip package 1706. The first flip chip package 1704 may representan exemplary embodiment of the flip chip package 1500.

The second flip chip package 1706 includes one or more antennas fortransmitting communications signals to other electrical, mechanical,and/or electro-mechanical circuits that are communicatively coupled tothe integrated circuit 1700 and/or for receiving other communicationssignals from these other circuits. The one or more antennas may beimplemented using one or more monopole antennas, one or more dipoleantennas, one or more phased arrays, one or more patch antennas, one ormore waveguides or any other suitable device which converts electriccurrents into electromagnetic waves that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. Alternatively, the second flip chippackage 1706 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the flip chippackage 1600.

Fourth Exemlary configuration and Arrangement of the Integrated Circuit

FIG. 18 illustrates a fourth exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. One or more functional modules of the integratedcircuit are configured and arranged onto a first flip chip package andan integrated antenna is configured and arranged onto a second flip chippackage. The first flip chip package and the second flip chip packageare coupled to a substrate to form an integrated circuit 1800. The otherelectrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits that arecommunicatively coupled to the integrated circuit 1800 may provide powersignals and/or information, such as data and/or one or more commands, tothe first flip chip package. The first flip chip package may route thepower signals and/or the information to the substrate where it is thenrouted to the second flip chip package. The integrated circuit 1800 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 200 and/orthe integrated circuit 300. The integrated circuit 1800 shares manysubstantially similar features with the integrated circuit 1700;therefore, only differences between the integrated circuit 1700 and theintegrated circuit 1800 are to be discussed in further detail below.

The integrated circuit 1800 includes the substrate 1702, the second flipchip package 1706, and a first flip chip package 1804. The first flipchip package 1804 is substantially similar to the first flip chippackage 1704; however, the first flip chip package 1804 may additionallyinclude transmission lines 1808.1 through 1808.p for routing theinformation and/or the power from the other electrical, mechanical,and/or electro-mechanical circuits that are communicatively coupled tothe integrated circuit 1800 to the substrate 1702. The transmissionlines 1808.1 through 1808.p may additionally be used to route theinformation and/or the power from these electrical, mechanical, and/orelectro-mechanical circuits to the first flip chip package 1804. Theconfiguration and arrangement of the transmission lines 1808.1 through1808.p as shown in FIG. 18 is for illustrative purposes only. Thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that the transmissionlines 1808.1 through 1808.p may traverse any suitable path through thefirst flip chip package 1804 without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will alsorecognize that the first flip chip package 1804 may include a differentnumber of transmission lines 1808.1 through 1808.p than illustrated inFIG. 18 for routing other power signals and/or other information to thesubstrate 1702 without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

The substrate 1702 may route the power signals and/or the information tothe second flip chip package 1706. The first flip chip package 1804further includes interconnections 1806.1 through 1806.b to forminterconnections between other electrical, mechanical, and/orelectro-mechanical circuits. The interconnections 1806.1 through 1806.bare substantially similar to the interconnections 1716.1 through 1716.band will not be described in further detail.

Fifth Exemplatry Configuration and Arrangment of the Integrated Circuit

FIG. 19 illustrates a fifth exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. One or more functional modules of the integratedcircuit are configured and arranged onto a first flip chip package andan integrated antenna is configured and arranged onto a second flip chippackage. The first flip chip package and the second flip chip packageare coupled to a substrate to form an integrated circuit 1900. The otherelectrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits that arecommunicatively coupled to the integrated circuit 1900 may provide powersignals and/or information, such as data and/or one or more commands, tothe second flip chip package. The second flip chip package may route thepower signals and/or the information to the substrate where it is thenrouted to the first flip chip package. The integrated circuit 1900 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 200 and/orthe integrated circuit 300. The integrated circuit 1900 shares manysubstantially similar features with the integrated circuit 1700;therefore, only differences between the integrated circuit 1700 and theintegrated circuit 1900 are to be discussed in further detail below.

The integrated circuit 1900 the substrate 1702, the second flip chippackage 1706, and a first flip chip package 1904. The first flip chippackage 1904 is substantially similar to the first flip chip package1704; however, the first flip chip package 1904 may additionally includea transmission line 1908 for routing the information and/or the powerfrom other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuitsthat are communicatively coupled to the integrated circuit 1900 to thesecond flip chip package 1706. The transmission line 1908 mayadditionally be used to route the information and/or the power fromthese electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits to thefirst flip chip package 1904. The configuration and arrangement of thetransmission line 1908 as shown in FIG. 18 is for illustrative purposesonly. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that thetransmission line 1908 may traverse any suitable path through the firstflip chip package 1904 without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will alsorecognize that the first flip chip package 1904 may include more thanone transmission line 1908 for routing other power signals and/or otherinformation to the second flip chip package 1706 without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention.

The second flip chip package 1706 may route the power signals and/or theinformation to the substrate 1702. The first flip chip package 1904further includes interconnections 1906 to form an interconnectionsbetween other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanicalcircuits. The interconnection 1906 is substantially similar to theinterconnections 1716.1 through 1716.b and will not be described infurther detail.

Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that other exemplaryconfigurations and arrangements of the integrated circuit are possiblethat use features of the integrated circuit 1700, integrated circuit1800, and/or integrated circuit 1900 without departing from the spritand scope of the present invention. Each of these other exemplaryconfigurations and arrangements of the integrated circuit may includeone or more functional modules that are configured and arranged onto afirst flip chip package that is coupled to an integrated antenna that isconfigured and arranged onto a second flip chip package. These otherexemplary configurations and arrangements of the integrated circuit mayinclude electrical components, mechanical components, electro-mechanicalcomponents, or any other suitable components that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) that are formed onto theirrespective substrates to provide power signals and/or information, suchas data and/or one or more commands. These other exemplaryconfigurations and arrangements of the integrated circuit may includeone or more transmission lines for routing of the power signals and/orthe information from other electrical, mechanical, and/orelectro-mechanical circuits to the first flip chip package and/or thesecond flip chip package.

Sixth Exemplary Configuration and Arrangement of the Integrated Circuit

FIG. 20 illustrates a first exemplary configuration and arrangement ofone or more functional modules of the integrated circuit according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. A semiconductor devicefabrication operation uses a predetermined sequence of photographicand/or chemical processing steps to form one or more functional modulesonto a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate is coupledto other semiconductor substrates having other functional modules toform a vertical arrangement 2000. The vertical arrangement 2000 includesfunctional modules 2002.1 through 2002.h. The functional modules 2002.1through 2002.h may represent exemplary embodiments of one or more of theone or more functional modules 202.1 through 202.i, the one or morefunctional modules 302.1 through 302.i, and/or the functional module400.

The semiconductor device fabrication operation forms a first group ofthe functional modules 508.1 through 508.d onto a first arrangement ofthe first group of the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.n ofa first semiconductor substrate to form the functional module 2002.1.Similarly, the semiconductor device fabrication operation forms anh^(th) group of the functional modules 508.1 through 508.d onto anh^(th) arrangement of the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.nof a h^(th) semiconductor substrate to form the functional module2002.1. The configuration and arrangement of the functional modules508.1 through 508.d as shown in FIG. 20 is for illustrative purposesonly. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that thefunctional modules 508.1 through 508.d may be configured and arrangeddifferently without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. For example, those skilled in the relevant art(s) willrecognize that the functional modules 2002.1 through 2002.h may includea similar and/or dissimilar number of functional modules from among thefunctional modules 508.1 through 508.d without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. As another example, those skilled inthe relevant art(s) will recognize that the first arrangement throughthe h^(th) arrangement of the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through502.n may include a similar and/or dissimilar number of useablefabrication layers without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

The functional modules 2002.1 through 2002.h are coupled to each otherto form the vertical arrangement 2000. For example, the firstsemiconductor substrate is coupled to the h^(th) semiconductor substrateto couple the functional modules 2002.1 through 2002.h. The functionalmodules 2002.1 through 2002.h are coupled using physical connectionssuch as bond wires solder bumps, or any other suitable physicalconnection that will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s)without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.Specifically, a last useable fabrication from among the useablefabrication layers 502.1 through 502.n of a first functional module fromamong the functional modules 2002.1 through 2002.h is coupled to a firstinsulation layer from among the insulation layers 506.1 through 506.p ofa second functional module from among the functional modules 2002.1through 2002.h to form the vertical arrangement 2000. For example, theuseable fabrication layer 502.n of the functional module 2002.1 iscoupled to the insulation layer 506.1 of the functional module 2002.1.

FIG. 21 illustrates a sixth exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. A semiconductor device fabrication operation uses apredetermined sequence of photographic and/or chemical processing stepsto form an integrated waveguide onto a semiconductor substrate. Theintegrated waveguide is coupled to a vertical arrangement of one orfunctional modules to communicatively couple these functional modules toform an integrated circuit 2100. The integrated circuit 500 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 200 and/orthe integrated circuit 300.

The integrated waveguide is coupled to the vertical arrangement 2000 toform the integrated circuit 2100. However, those skilled in the relevantart(s) will also recognize that the vertical arrangement 2000 may becoupled to other antennas such as a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna,a phased array, a patch antenna, or any other suitable device whichconverts electric currents into electromagnetic waves that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention to form the integratedcircuit 2100.

The integrated waveguide 2102 includes a first conductive element 2104and a second conductive element 2106 between a cavity region 2108 thatare configured and arranged to form a parallel plate waveguide. However,this example are not limiting, those skilled in the relevant art(s) willrecognize that other configurations and arrangements of the integratedwaveguide 2102 are possible without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention. For example, the first conductive element 2104and the second conductive element 2106 may be configured and arranged toform any other suitable multi-conductor waveguide. As another example,the first conductive element 2104 may be coupled to the secondconductive element 2106 to form a single conductor waveguide, such as arectangular waveguide, a circular waveguide, or an elliptical waveguideto provide some examples. The integrated waveguide 2102 shares manysubstantially similar features with the integrated waveguide 600 and/orthe integrated waveguide 1100; therefore only differences between theintegrated waveguide 600 and/or the integrated waveguide 1100 and theintegrated waveguide 2102 only differences between the integratedwaveguide 900 and the integrated waveguide 1000 are to be discussed infurther detail below.

The first conductive element 2104 and/or the second conductive element2106 may include phase openings 2108.1 through 2108.s. The phaseopenings 2108.1 through 2108.s may be implemented in a substantiallysimilar manner as the static phase openings 606.1 through 606.s and/orthe dynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t and will not bediscussed in further detail. In some situations, at least one of thefunctional modules from among the functional modules 508.1 through 508.dis configured and arranged to form a waveguide controller module toconfigure and/or operate the integrated waveguide 2102 as discussedabove in FIG. 11 through FIG. 12. In these situations, the integratedwaveguide 2102 may include one or more electro-mechanical devices, asdiscussed above in FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B, FIG. 14A, and/or FIG. 14B, toopen, close, and/or partially open or partially close the phase openings2108.1 through 2108.s to dynamically configure operating characteristicsof the integrated waveguide 2102.

The functional modules 2002.1 through 2002.h of the vertical arrangement2000 may be coupled to radiating elements that are substantially similarto radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d to communicate with each otheras well as to other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanicalcircuits that are communicatively coupled to the integrated circuit 2100in accordance with the multiple access transmission scheme. In anexemplary embodiment, each of the functional modules 2002.1 through2002.h may be coupled to a corresponding radiating element from amongthe radiating elements. In another exemplary embodiment, each of thefunctional modules 508.1 through 508.d may be coupled to a correspondingradiating element from among the radiating elements. In a furtherexemplary embodiment, some of the functional modules 2002.1 through2002.h may be coupled to their corresponding radiating elements fromamong the radiating elements and some of the functional modules 508.1through 508.d may be coupled to their corresponding radiating elementfrom among the radiating elements. Although not illustrated in FIG. 21,the radiating elements may be formed within the second conductiveelement 2106 in a substantially similar manner as described in FIG. 8.

Seventh Exemplary Configuration and Arrangement of the IntegratedCircuit

FIG. 22 illustrates a second exemplary configuration and arrangement ofone or more functional modules of the integrated circuit according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. A semiconductor devicefabrication operation uses a predetermined sequence of photographicand/or chemical processing steps to one or more functional modules ontoa semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate is coupled toother semiconductor substrates having other functional modules to form avertical arrangement of functional modules. The semiconductor devicefabrication operation forms a first conductive element for an integratedwaveguide within the vertical arrangement of functional modules to forma vertical arrangement 2200. The vertical arrangement 2200 shares manysubstantially similar features with the vertical arrangement 2000;therefore, only differences between the vertical arrangement 2000 andthe vertical arrangement 2200 are to be discussed in further detailbelow.

The semiconductor device fabrication operation forms groups of thefunctional modules 508.1 through 508.d onto arrangements of the useablefabrication layers 502.1 through 502.n to form the functional modules2002.1 through 2002.h as discussed above in FIG. 20.

The semiconductor device fabrication operation forms a first conductiveelement 2202.1 within the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.nand/or the insulation layers 506.1 through 506.n of the functionalmodule 2002.1. Similarly, the semiconductor device fabrication operationforms an h^(th) conductive element 2202.h within the useable fabricationlayers 502.1 through 502.n and/or the insulation layers 506.1 through506.n of the functional module 2002.h. The configuration and arrangementof the conductive elements 2202.1 through 2202.h within their useablefabrication layers 502.1 through 502.n and/or their insulation layers506.1 through 506.n as shown in FIG. 22 is for illustrative purposesonly. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that theconductive elements 2202.1 through 2202.h may be configured and arrangeddifferently within the useable fabrication layers 502.1 through 502.nand/or the insulation layers 506.1 through 506.n of the functionalmodules 2002.1 through 2002.h without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. The conductive elements 2202.1 through2202.h may be implemented using a conductive material, such as copper orcopper-based materials to provide some examples, or any other suitablematerial that may reflect a cavity wave that propagates through theintegrated waveguide 600 that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. Additionally, although not illustrated in FIG. 22,the conductive elements 2202.1 through 2202.h may include one or morephase openings such as the static phase openings 606.1 through 606.sand/or the dynamic phase openings 1204.1 through 1204.t.

The conductive elements 2202.1 through 2202.h are coupled to each otherto form a conductive element 2204 of an integrated waveguide. However,this example is not limiting, those skilled in the relevant art(s) willrecognize that conductive elements 2202.1 through 2202.h may beconfigured and arranged to form components of a monopole antenna, adipole antenna, a phased array, a patch antenna, a waveguide and/or anyother suitable device which converts electric currents intoelectromagnetic waves that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. The conductive elements 2202.1 through 2202.h arecoupled using physical connections such as bond wires solder bumps, orany other suitable physical connection that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention.

The functional modules 2002.1 through 2002.h of the vertical arrangement2000 may be coupled to radiating elements that are substantially similarto radiating elements 802.1 through 802.d to communicate with each otheras well as to other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanicalcircuits that are communicatively coupled to the integrated circuit 2100in accordance with the multiple access transmission scheme. Although notillustrated in FIG. 22, the radiating elements may be formed within theconductive element 2204 in a substantially similar manner as describedin FIG. 8.

FIG. 23 illustrates a seventh exemplary configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. A first vertical arrangement having a firstconductive element is displaced from second vertical arrangement havinga second conductive element. The first vertical arrangement is displacedfrom the second vertical arrangement such that first conductive elementand the second conductive element are configured and arranged to form anintegrated waveguide to communicatively couple functional modules of thefirst vertical arrangement and functional modules of the second verticalarrangement to form an integrated circuit 2300. The integrated circuit2300 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 200and/or the integrated circuit 300.

One or more functional modules of the first vertical arrangement 2302and/or the second vertical arrangement 2302 communicate with each otheras well as to other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanicalcircuits that are communicatively coupled to the integrated circuit 2300in accordance with the multiple access transmission scheme using anintegrated waveguide 2310. The integrated circuit 2300 includes a firstvertical arrangement 2302 having a first conductive element 2304 and asecond vertical arrangement 2306 having a second conductive element2306. The first vertical arrangement 2302 and/or the second verticalarrangement 2302 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the verticalarrangement 2200. The first vertical arrangement 2302 is displaced fromthe second vertical arrangement 2306 by a distance d to form theintegrated waveguide 2310. In an exemplary embodiment, the firstvertical arrangement 2302 and the second vertical arrangement 2306 arecoupled to a semiconductor substrate or a printed circuit board at thedistance d to form the integrated waveguide 2310.

However, this example is not limiting, those skilled in the relevantart(s) will recognize that other components of other antennas may beformed within the first vertical arrangement 2302 and/or the secondvertical arrangement 2302 without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. These other components when displaced the d fromeach other may be configured and arranged to form a monopole antenna, adipole antenna, a phased array, a patch antenna, a waveguide and/or anyother suitable device which converts electric currents intoelectromagnetic waves that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

Exemplary Multichip Modulate (MCM)

FIG. 24 illustrates an exemplary Multichip Module (MCM) according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. One or more integratedcircuits may be coupled to an integrated circuit carrier, such as asemiconductor substrate or a printed circuit board (PCB) to provide someexamples, to form a Multichip Module (MCM) 2400. The MCM 2400 includesintegrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r and an integrated circuitcarrier 2404. The integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r mayrepresent exemplary embodiments of one or more of the integrated circuit500, the integrated circuit 1100, the integrated circuit 1700, theintegrated circuit 1800, the integrated circuit 1900, the integratedcircuit 2100, and/or the integrated circuit 2300 to provide someexamples.

The integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r are coupled onto theintegrated circuit carrier 2404. The configuration and arrangement ofthe integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r as shown in FIG. 24 is forillustrative purposes only. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) willrecognize that the integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r may beconfigured and arranged differently without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. Those skilled in the relevant art(s)will also recognize that the integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.rmay include any suitable number of integrated circuits without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The integrated circuit carrier 2404 represents a carrier substrate, suchas a semiconductor substrate or a printed circuit board (PCB) to providesome examples, for coupling of the integrated circuits 2402.1 through2402.r onto. For example, the integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.rmay include a ball grid array (BGA) having one or more solder bumps, alead frame having one or more leads, one or more bonding pads, and/orany other suitable means for coupling the integrated circuits 2402.1through 2402.r to the integrated circuit carrier 2404 that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. In this example, theintegrated circuit carrier 2404 may include one or more bonding padsthat are configured and arranged to couple to the integrated circuits2402.1 through 2402.r. and/or any other suitable means for coupling theintegrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r to the integrated circuitcarrier 2404 that will be apparent to those skilled in the relevantart(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. The one or more bonding pads of the integrated circuitcarrier 2404 may be coupled to integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.rby melting the one or more solder bumps of the BGA, by coupling the oneor more leads of the lead frame, and/or by wire bonding to the one ormore bonding pads of the integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r.

The integrated circuit carrier 2404 may form interconnections betweenthe integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r. For example, theintegrated circuit carrier 2404 may include a power source, such as aninternal battery to provide an example, to provide power signals to theintegrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r. As another example, theintegrated circuit carrier 2404 may include one or more voltageregulators to regulate this power source or any other suitable powersource to provide the power signals to the integrated circuits 2402.1through 2402.r. As a further example, the integrated circuit carrier2404 may include a controller module for controlling overall operationof the integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r.

Collectively, the integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r areconfigured to wirelessly communicate with each other as well to otherelectrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits that arecommunicatively coupled to the MCM 2400 in accordance with the multipleaccess transmission scheme. The integrated circuit carrier 2404 mayinclude a substantially similar transceiver and antenna as one of theintegrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r to wirelessly communicate withthe integrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r as well to otherelectrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits that arecommunicatively coupled to the MCM 2400. The integrated circuit carrier2404 may additionally communicate with one or more of the integratedcircuits 2402.1 through 2402.r using wired communications. The wiredcommunications may be implemented using one or more transmission linesthat are coupled to one or more of the integrated circuits 2402.1through 2402.r. Typically, the wired communication is used for lowfrequency communications and/or low data rate communications; whereas,the wireless communication is used for high frequency communicationsand/or high data rate communications. For example, the wiredcommunication may be used to transfer commands between the integratedcircuit carrier 2404 and one or more of the integrated circuits 2402.1through 2402.r and the wireless communication may be used to transferdata between the integrated circuit carrier 2404 and one or more of theintegrated circuits 2402.1 through 2402.r.

Although not illustrated in FIG. 24, the MCM 2400 may be coupled to asemiconductor package to form a packaged integrated circuit. Typically,the semiconductor package is configured and arranged to encase the MCM2400 within a non-conductive material such as plastic though any othersuitable non-conductive material may be used that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. The semiconductor package mayadditionally include one or more couplings, such as one or more pinsand/or solder bumps to provide some examples, which are coupled to theMCM 2400 for coupling the packaged integrated circuit to otherelectrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits.

First Exemplary Wireless component Testing Environment

FIG. 25 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a wireless integratedcircuit testing environment according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. As discussed above, each of the integrated circuits102.1 through 102.n may include one or more functional modules, such asthe functional modules 202.1 through 202.i and/or the functional modules302.1 through 302.i to provide some examples, are communicative coupledto other electrical, mechanical, and/or electro-mechanical circuits,such as wireless automatic test equipment to provide an example. Thewireless automatic test equipment verifies that the one or more of theintegrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n operate as expected.

A wireless testing environment 100 allows for simultaneous testing ofthe integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n by wireless automatic testequipment 2502. The wireless automatic test equipment 2502 wirelesslytests one or more of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.nsimultaneously to verify that these integrated circuits 102.1 through102.n operate as expected. The wireless automatic test equipment 2502provides an initiate testing operation signal 2550 to the integratedcircuits 102.1 through 102.n. The initiate testing operation signal 2550represents a radio communication signal that is wirelessly transmittedto the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n.

The initiate testing operation signal 2550 is simultaneously observed byone or more of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n. Theintegrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n that received the initiatetesting operation signal 2550 enter into a testing mode of operation,whereby these integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n execute aself-contained testing operation. The self-contained testing operationmay utilize a first set of parameters provided by the initiate testingoperation signal 2550 to be used by a first set of instructions that arestored within the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n.Alternatively, the self-contained testing operation may execute a secondset of instructions provided by the initiate testing operation signal2550 and/or a second set of parameters to be used by the second set ofinstructions that are provided by the initiate testing operation signal2550. In another alternate, the self-contained testing operation mayinclude any combination of the first set of instructions, the second setof instructions, the first set of parameters and/or the second set ofparameters. The wireless automatic test equipment 2502 may provide theinitiate testing operation signal 2550 during the self-contained testingoperation to provide additional parameters and/or instructions to theintegrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n.

After completion of the self-contained testing operation, the integratedcircuits 102.1 through 102.n wirelessly transmit testing operationoutcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n to the wireless automatic test equipment2502 via a common communication channel 2554. The common communicationchannel 2554 represents a communication channel that is besimultaneously utilized or shared by the integrated circuits 102.1through 102.n. Collectively, the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.ncommunicate the testing operation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n overthe common communication channel 2554 using the multiple accesstransmission scheme.

The wireless automatic test equipment 2502 observes the testingoperation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n as they pass through the commoncommunication channel 2554 using one or more receiving antennaspositioned in three-dimensional space. The wireless automatic testequipment 2502 determines one or more signal metrics, such as a mean, atotal energy, an average power, a mean square, an instantaneous power, aroot mean square, a variance, a norm, a voltage level and/or any othersuitable signal metric that will be apparent by those skilled in therelevant art(s) provide some examples, of the testing operation outcomes2552.1 through 2552.n as observed by the one or more receiving antennas.

The wireless automatic test equipment 2502 uses the one or more signalmetrics to map the testing operation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n tothe integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n. The wireless automatic testequipment 2502 determines a first group of integrated circuits fromamong the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n that operate asexpected, and optionally their location within the semiconductor wafer104, based upon the testing operation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n asobserved by the one or more receiving antennas. Alternatively, thewireless automatic test equipment 2502 may determine a second group ofintegrated circuits from among the integrated circuits 102.1 through102.n that operate unexpectedly based upon the testing operationoutcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n as observed by the one or more multiplereceiving antennas. The wireless automatic test equipment 2502 may,optionally, provide a location of the second group of integratedcircuits within the semiconductor wafer 104. In another alternate, thewireless automatic test equipment 2502 may determine any combination ofthe first group of integrated circuits and the second group ofintegrated circuits and, optionally, provide their correspondinglocations within the semiconductor wafer 104. The wireless automatictest equipment 2502 is further described in U.S. patent appl. Ser. No.13/025,657, filed on Feb. 11, 2011, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

The wireless automatic test equipment 2502 may additionally be used tosimultaneously test other integrated circuits, such as the integratedcircuit 200, integrated circuit 300, the integrated circuit 500, theintegrated circuit 1100, the integrated circuit 1700, the integratedcircuit 1800, the integrated circuit 1900, the integrated circuit 2100,and/or the integrated circuit 2300 to provide some examples, in asubstantially similar manner. The wireless automatic test equipment 2502may further be used to simultaneously test functional modules of theseother integrated circuits, such as the functional modules 202.1 through202.i, the functional modules 302.1 through 302.i, the functional module400, and/or the functional modules 508.1 through 508.d to provide someexamples, in a substantially similar manner.

Exemplary Wireless Automatic Test Equipment

FIG. 26 illustrates a schematic block diagram of wireless automatic testequipment that is implemented within the wireless integrated circuittesting environment according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. The integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n transmit thetesting operation outcomes 152 to the wireless automatic test equipment2600 via the common communication channel 2554. The wireless automatictest equipment 2600 includes one or more receiving antennas to observethe testing operation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n from one or moredirections in three dimensional space. The wireless automatic testequipment 2600 may determine whether one or more of the integratedcircuits 102.1 through 102.n operate as expected and, optionally, mayuse properties of the three dimensional space, such as distance betweeneach of multiple receiving antennas and/or the integrated circuits 102.1through 102.n to provide an example, to determine a location of the oneor more of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n within thesemiconductor wafer 100. The wireless automatic test equipment 2600represents an exemplary embodiment of the wireless automatic testequipment 2502.

The wireless automatic test equipment 2600 includes receiving antennas2602.1 through 2602.i, a receiver module 2604, a metric measurementmodule 2606, a testing processor 2608, an operator interface module2610, a transmitter module 2612, and a transmitting antenna 2614. Thereceiving antennas 2602.1 through 2602.i are positioned at correspondingpositions in the three dimensional space. The receiving antennas 2602observe testing operation outcomes 2652.1 through 2652.i to provide oneor more observed testing operation outcomes 2654.1 through 2654.i. Thetesting operation outcomes 2652.1 through 2652.i represent the testingoperation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n as they propagate through thecommon communication channel 2554 as observed by the receiving antennas2602 at their corresponding positions in the three-dimensional space.For example, the observed testing operation outcome 2654.1 representsthe testing operation outcomes 2652.1 through 2652.i as they propagatethrough the common communication channel 2554 as observed by thereceiving antenna 2602.1 at a first position in the three-dimensionalspace. Likewise, the observed testing operation outcome 2654.2represents the testing operation outcomes 2652.1 through 2652.i as theypropagate through the common communication channel 2554 as observed bythe receiving antenna 2602.2 at a second corresponding position in thethree-dimensional space.

The receiver module 2604 downconverts, demodulates, and/or decodes theobserved testing operation outcomes 2654.1 through 2654.i to providerecovered testing outcomes 2656.1 through 2656.k in accordance with themultiple access transmission scheme. More specifically, the wirelessautomatic test equipment 2600 includes i receiving antennas 2602.1through 2602.i to observe the testing operation outcomes 2552.1 through2552.n as they propagate through the common communication channel 2554to provide i observed testing operation outcomes 2654.1 through 2654.i.Each of the observed testing operation outcomes 2654.1 through 2654.iincludes the testing operation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n asobserved by its corresponding receiving antenna 2602.1 through 2602.i.For example, the observed testing operation outcomes 2654.1 includes thetesting operation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n as observed thereceiving antenna 2602.1 and the observed testing operation outcomes2654.i includes the testing operation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n asobserved the receiving antenna 2602.i.

The receiver module 2604 downconverts, demodulates, and/or decodes theobserved testing operation outcomes 2654 to provide a correspondingrecovered testing outcome 2656.1 through 2656.k for each of the ntesting operation outcomes 2552.1 through 2552.n for each of the itesting operation outcomes 2656.1 through 2656.k for a total of n*i=krecovered testing outcomes 2656.1 through 2656.k. In an exemplaryembodiment, the testing operation outcome 2656.1 represents the testingoperation outcome 2552.1 as observed by the receiving antenna 2602.1,the testing operation outcome 2656.2 represents the testing operationoutcome 2552.2 as observed by the receiving antenna 2602.1. In thisexemplary embodiment, the testing operation outcome 2656.k representsthe testing operation outcome 2552.n as observed by the receivingantenna 2602.i.

The metric measurement module 2606 determines one or more signal metricsof the recovered testing outcomes 2656.1 through 2656.k to providemeasured signal metrics 2658.1 through 2658.k. The one or more signalmetrics may include a mean, a total energy, an average power, a meansquare, an instantaneous power, a root mean square, a variance, a norm,a voltage level and/or any other suitable signal metric of the recoveredtesting outcomes 2656 that will be apparent by those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

The testing processor 2608 may determine a first group of integratedcircuits from among the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n thatoperate as expected based upon the recovered testing outcomes 2656.1through 2656.k. The testing processor 2608 evaluates the recoveredtesting outcomes 2656.1 through 2656.k for each of the uniqueidentification numbers to determine whether its corresponding integratedcircuit 102.1 through 102.n is part of the first group of integratedcircuits. Alternatively, the testing processor 2608 may determine thefirst group of integrated circuits based upon the recovered testingoutcomes 2656.1 through 2656.i that correspond to the first receivingantenna 2602.1, based upon the recovered testing outcomes 2656.(k−i)through 2656.k that correspond to the i^(th) receiving antenna 2602.i,or any suitable combination of antennas that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. Alternatively, the testing processor2608 may determine a second group of integrated circuits from among theintegrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n that operate unexpectedly basedupon the recovered testing outcomes 2656.1 through 2656.k. In anotheralternate, the testing processor 2608 may determine any combination ofthe first group of integrated circuits and the second group ofintegrated circuits.

The testing processor 2608 may, optionally, determine a location of theintegrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n within the semiconductor wafer100 based upon the measured signal metrics 2658.1 through 2658.k. Thetesting processor 2608 assigns the recovered testing outcomes 2658.1through 2658.k to corresponding coordinates from among i sets ofcoordinates in the three dimensional space to determine the location ofthe integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n within the semiconductorwafer 100. For example, in an embodiment of the wireless automatic testequipment 2600 having a first receiving antenna 2602.1 and a secondreceiving antenna 2602.2, the first receiving antenna 2602.1 and thesecond receiving antenna 2602.2 observe the testing operation outcome2652.1 and the testing operation outcome 2652.2, correspondingly. Inthis example, the testing processor 2608 designates the measured signalmetrics 2658.1 and 2658.i that correspond to the first receiving antenna2602.1 as a first coordinate for each of the i sets of coordinates inthe three dimensional space. Similarly, the testing processor 2608designates the measured signal metrics 2658.(i+l) and 2658.k thatcorrespond to the second receiving antenna 2602.2 as a second coordinatefor each of the i sets of coordinates in the three dimensional space.

The testing processor 2608 assigns the unique identification number foreach of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n that is embeddedwithin the testing operation outcomes 2652.1 through to the i sets ofcoordinates. The testing processor 2608 extracts the uniqueidentification number for each of the 102.1 through 102.n from therecovered testing outcomes 2656, or a subset of, from the recoveredtesting outcomes 2656.1 through 2656.k, such as the recovered testingoutcomes 2656.1 through 2656.i to provide an example.

The testing processor 2608 maps the unique identification numbers totheir corresponding integrated circuit 102.1 through 102.n to determinethe location of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n within thesemiconductor wafer 100. The testing processor 2608 may determine thelocation of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n within thesemiconductor wafer 100 by comparing the measured signal metrics 2658.1through 2658.k corresponding to each of the unique identification numberto predetermined signal metrics for each of the integrated circuits102.1 through 102.n. The predetermined signal metrics represent expectedvalues of the measured signal metrics 2658.1 through 2658.k. Forexample, one or more predetermined signal metrics, or range of signalmetrics, for each of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n aredetermined prior to the testing operation. The testing processor 2608may compare the i sets of coordinates for the unique identificationnumbers to the one or more predetermined signal metric for each of theintegrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n to effectively map the uniqueidentification numbers to the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n.

Alternatively, the testing processor 2608 may iteratively interpolatethe location of the unique identification numbers to the integratedcircuits 102.1 through 102.n within the semiconductor wafer 100 basedupon relationships between their corresponding measured signal metrics2658.1 through 2658.k. For example, if a first coordinate from among afirst set of coordinates that is assigned to a first uniqueidentification number is greater than a first coordinate from among asecond set of coordinates that is assigned to a second unique number,then the integrated circuit 102.1 through 102.n that provided the firstunique identification number is closer to the first receiving antenna2602.1 when compared to the integrated circuit 102.1 through 102.n thatprovided the second unique number. As another example, if the firstcoordinate from among the first set of coordinates is less than a firstcoordinate from among a third set of coordinates that is assigned to athird unique identification number, then the integrated circuit 102.1through 102.n that provided the first unique identification number isfurther from the first receiving antenna 2602.1 when compared to theintegrated circuit 102.1 through 102.n that provided the third uniqueidentification number.

The testing processor 2608 may provide a listing of testing results 2660to the operator interface module 261. The listing of testing results2660 may indicate whether at least one the integrated circuits 102.1through 102.n operate as expected, and optionally their location withinthe semiconductor wafer 100, whether at least one of the integratedcircuits 102.1 through 102.n operate unexpected, and optionally theirlocation within the semiconductor wafer 100, or any combination thereof.Alternatively, the testing processor 2608 may store the listing of testresults 2660 within an internal memory. In another alternate, thelisting of testing results 2660 may include a first indication that allof the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n that operate as expectedand/or a second indication that indicates at least one of the integratedcircuits 102.1 through 102.n operate unexpectedly.

The operator interface module 2610 may further process the listing oftesting results 2660 for display on a graphical user interface. Forexample, the operator interface module 2610 may display the listing oftesting results 2660 on a video monitor for interpretation by an enduser. Alternatively, the operator interface module 2610 may provide thelisting of testing results 2660 to the end user. For example, theoperator interface module 2610 may record the listing of testing results2660 onto a digital recording medium. In another alternate, the operatorinterface module 2610 may store the listing of testing results 2660 forfuture recovery by the end user.

The operator interface module 2610 additionally observes an indicationfrom the end user the initiate the self-contained testing operation,whereby the operator interface module sends an initiate self-containedtesting operation 2662 to the testing processor 2608 to initiate theself-contained testing operation. The end user may additionally specifythe second set of instructions to be performed and/or the second set ofparameters to be used by the second set of instructions prior toinitiating the self-contained testing operation. Alternatively, thetesting processor 2608 may load the second set of instructions and/orthe second set of parameters from the internal memory. The operatorinterface module 2610 provides the second set of instructions and/or thesecond set of parameters to the testing processor 2608 as part of theinitiate self-contained testing operation 2662.

The transmitter module 2612 receives the initiate self-contained testingoperation 2662 from the testing processor 2608 via an initiateself-contained testing operation 2664. The transmitter module 2612encodes, modulates and/or upconverts the initiate self-contained testingoperation 2664 to provide an initiate testing operation signal 2666 tothe semiconductor wafer 100 via a transmitting antenna 2614. In anexemplary embodiment, the transmitter module 2612 wirelessly sends theinitiate testing operation signal 2666 to all of the integrated circuits102.1 through 102.n within the semiconductor wafer 100. However, thisexample is not limiting, those skilled in the relevant art(s) willrecognize that the initiate testing operation signal 2666 may be sent toa lesser number of the integrated circuits 102.1 through 102.n withinthe semiconductor wafer 100 without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention. The initiate testing operation signal 2666represents an exemplary embodiment of the initiate testing operationsignal 2550.

The wireless automatic test equipment 2600 is further described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/025,657, filed on Feb. 11, 2011, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIG. 27 illustrates block diagram of receiving antennas that areimplemented as part of the wireless automatic test equipment to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. A wireless integratedcircuit testing environment 2700 includes integrated circuits from amonga semiconductor wafer that are configurable to execute a self-containedtesting operation to verify their operation. The integrated circuitsinclude coupling elements in various locations for passing varioussignals before, during, and/or after the self-contained testingoperation. Wireless automatic test equipment includes at least onecoupling antenna that is configured and arranged to passively observethese signals without any substantial interruption in the self-containedtesting operation. The wireless integrated circuit testing environment2700 includes a semiconductor wafer 2702 and wireless automatic testequipment 2710. The wireless integrated circuit testing environment 2700may represent an exemplary embodiment of the wireless integrated circuittesting environment 2500.

As shown in exploded view 2710, the semiconductor wafer 2702 includesintegrated circuits 2704.1 through 2704.n that are formed onto asemiconductor substrate 2706. The integrated circuits 2704.1 through2704.n include coupling elements 2708.1 through 2708.n for passingvarious signals before, during, and/or after the self-contained testingoperation. For example, the coupling elements 2708.1 through 2708.n maybe used to pass various analog signals, digital signals, power signals,and/or any other suitable electrical signal that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention throughout the integrated circuits2704.1 through 2704.n. The coupling elements 2708.1 through 2708.n maybe implemented using one or more conductive wires and/or traces withinthe integrated circuits 2704.1 through 2704.n such as an analog signalline, a digital signal line, a power signal line, and/or any othersuitable conductive element that may pass an electrical signal that willbe apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention. Those skilled in therelevant art(s) will recognize that the coupling elements 2708.1 through2708.n may each include more than one coupling element that are coupledto various locations within a corresponding integrated circuit 2704.1through 2704.n without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention. The semiconductor wafer 2702 may represent anexemplary embodiment of the semiconductor wafer 100.

The wireless automatic test equipment 2710 shares many substantiallysimilar features with the wireless automatic test equipment 2502;therefore, only differences between the wireless automatic testequipment 2502 and the wireless automatic test equipment 2710 are to bediscussed in further detail below.

The wireless automatic test equipment 2710 is coupled to at least onecoupling element 2174. The coupling element 2174 passively observes orprobes locations within the integrated circuits 2704.1 through 2704.nbefore, during, and/or after the self-contained testing operationwithout any substantial interruption in the self-contained testingoperation. The coupling element 2174 is configured and arranged to beapproximately a distance d from the coupling elements 2708.1 through2708.n to proximity couple to the coupling elements 2708.1 through2708.n. For example, the coupling element 2174 may passively observevarious analog signals, digital signals, power signals, and/or any othersuitable electrical signal that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention passing through the coupling elements 2708.1 through2708.n through inductive and/or capacitive coupling.

The wireless automatic test equipment 2710 may selectively activateand/or deactivate each of the integrated circuits 2704.1 through 2704.nto passively observe locations within those integrated circuits 2704.1through 2704.n that are active. For example, the coupling element 2174may activate a first group of the one or more of the integrated circuits2704.1 through 2704.n that operate unexpectedly and a second group ofthe deactivate one or more of the integrated circuits 2704.1 through2704.n that operate as expected. The coupling element 2174 may passivelyobserve locations within the first group of the one or more of theintegrated circuits 2704.1 through 2704.n to determine a location withinthose integrated circuits that operates unexpectedly.

As shown in exploded view 2716, the coupling element 2714 includessub-coupling elements 2718.1 through 2718.m that are configured andarranged to form a matrix. The sub-coupling elements 2718.1 through2718.m may be implemented using one or more conductive wires and/ortraces and/or any other suitable device, or devices, that may be usedfor proximity coupling of electromagnetic waves that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. The sub-coupling elements 2718.1through 2718.m may be similar and/or dissimilar to each other. Theconfiguration and arrangement of the sub-coupling elements 2718.1through 2718.m as shown in FIG. 27 is for illustrative purposes only.Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that thesub-coupling elements 2718.1 through 2718.m may be configured andarranged within the coupling element 2714 differently without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The sub-coupling elements 2718.1 through 2718.m substantially increaselikelihood that the coupling element 2714 will proximity couple to thecoupling elements 2708.1 through 2708.n by providing diversity to thecoupling element 2714. For example, at least two of the sub-couplingelements 2718.1 through 2718.m are physically separated from each otherto provide spatial diversity to the coupling element 2714. As anotherexample, at least two of the sub-coupling elements 2718.1 through 2718.mmay be characterized as having different radiation patterns to providepattern diversity to the coupling element 2714. As a further example, atleast two of the sub-coupling elements 2718.1 through 2718.m may becharacterized as having different polarizations, such as orthogonalpolarizations to provide an example, to provide polarization diversityto the coupling element 2714. As a yet further example, at least two ofthe sub-coupling elements 2718.1 through 2718.m may include anycombination of the aforementioned features to provide spatial diversity,pattern diversity, and/or polarization diversity to the coupling element2714

The coupling element 2174 provides the various analog signals, digitalsignals, power signals, and/or any other suitable electrical signal thatwill be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention as observedto the wireless automatic test equipment 2710 for processing. Forexample, the wireless automatic test equipment 2710 may determinevarious signal metrics, such as a mean voltage and/or current level, anaverage voltage and/or current level, an instantaneous voltage and/orcurrent level, a root mean square voltage and/or current level, a meanpower, an average power, an instantaneous power, a root mean squarepower, a frequency, a phase and/or any other suitable signal metric thatwill be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, of the varioussignals as observed by the coupling element 2174.

CONCLUSION

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notthe Abstract section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims.The Abstract section may set forth one or more, but not all exemplaryembodiments, of the 2875.5450000/BU21625 present invention, and thus,are not intended to limit the present invention and the appended claimsin any way.

The present invention has been described above with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specifiedfunctions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functionalbuilding blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenienceof the description. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) that variouschanges in form and detail can be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present inventionshould not be limited by any of the above-described exemplaryembodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the followingclaims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An integrated circuit formed onto a semiconductorsubstrate, the semiconductor substrate including a first group and asecond group of useable fabrication layers from among a plurality offabrication layers, comprising: a functional module formed onto thefirst group of useable fabrication layers; and an integrated waveguide,formed onto the second group of useable fabrication layers,communicatively coupled to the functional module.
 2. The integratedcircuit of claim 1, wherein the first group of useable fabricationlayers comprises: a diffusion and a polysilicon layer to form componentsof the functional module; and a conductive layer to forminterconnections between the components.
 3. The integrated circuit ofclaim 1, wherein the second group of useable fabrication layerscomprises: a first fabrication layer to form a first conductive element;and a second fabrication layer to form a second conductive element,wherein the first and the second conductive elements are configured andarranged to form the integrated waveguide.
 4. The integrated circuit ofclaim 3, wherein the first and the second conductive elements areconfigured and arranged to form a first parallel plate and a secondparallel plate, respectively, and wherein the first parallel plate andthe second parallel plate elements are configured and arranged to form aparallel plate waveguide.
 5. The integrated circuit of claim 3, whereinthe first and the second conductive elements are characterized as beingseparated by a cavity region.
 6. The integrated circuit of claim 7,wherein the cavity region is a region between the first conductiveelement and the second conductive element that is free of conductivematerial.
 7. The integrated circuit of claim 8, wherein the regionbetween the first conductive element and the second conductive elementis configured and arranged to approximate free space.
 8. The integratedcircuit of claim 8, wherein the region between the first conductiveelement and the second conductive element includes at least onedielectric material.
 9. The integrated circuit of claim 3, wherein thefirst conductive element comprises: a plurality of phase openings thatare configured and arranged to be free of conductive material, the firstplurality of phase openings, the first conductive element, and thesecond conductive element being configured and arranged to form a leakywaveguide.
 10. The integrated circuit of claim 9, wherein the pluralityof phase openings are configured and arranged to leak portions of acavity wave, and wherein each portion of the cavity wave that leaksthrough each of the plurality of phase openings is configured toconstructively combine to form a transmitted communication signal. 11.The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising: a radiatingelement configured to communicatively couple the functional module andthe integrated waveguide.
 12. An integrated waveguide formed onto asemiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate including aplurality of fabrication layers, comprising: a first conductive elementformed onto a first useable fabrication layer from among the pluralityof fabrication layers; and a second conductive element formed onto asecond useable fabrication layer from among the plurality of fabricationlayers, wherein the first and the second conductive elements areconfigured and arranged to guide a cavity wave through the integratedwaveguide.
 13. The integrated waveguide of claim 12, wherein the firstand the second conductive elements are configured and arranged to form afirst parallel plate and a second parallel plate, respectively, andwherein the first parallel plate and the second parallel plate elementsare configured and arranged to form a parallel plate waveguide.
 14. Theintegrated waveguide of claim 12, wherein the first and the secondconductive elements are characterized as being separated by a cavityregion.
 15. The integrated waveguide of claim 14, wherein the cavityregion is a region between the first conductive element and the secondconductive element that is free of conductive material.
 16. Theintegrated waveguide of claim 15, wherein the region between the firstconductive element and the second conductive element is configured andarranged to approximate free space.
 17. The integrated waveguide ofclaim 15, wherein the region between the first conductive element andthe second conductive element includes at least one dielectric material.18. The integrated waveguide of claim 12, wherein the first conductiveelement comprises: a plurality of phase openings that are configured andarranged to be free of conductive material, the first plurality of phaseopenings, the first conductive element, and the second conductiveelement being configured and arranged to form a leaky waveguide.
 19. Theintegrated waveguide of claim 18, wherein the plurality of phaseopenings are configured and arranged to leak portions of a cavity wave,and wherein each portion of the cavity wave that leaks through each ofthe plurality of phase openings is configured to constructively combineto form a transmitted communication signal.
 20. The integrated waveguideof claim 12, wherein the integrated waveguide is coupled to at least onefunctional module formed onto other useable fabrication layers fromamong the plurality of fabrication layers.